New evidence: Minister doubted Nexperia intervention that suspended Chinese director

NOS obtained a letter revealing that Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Karremans doubted the effectiveness of his intervention at chipmaker Nexperia.

The intervention, enacted under a 1952 law never before used, aimed to stop decisions that could endanger chip production in Europe. The letter shows Karremans feared his order might be ignored and that crucial company processes could be lost if moved outside the continent. The intervention came a day before a case at the Ondernemingskamer, a specialized corporate court, led to the suspension of Nexperia’s Chinese director.

In the letter, Karremans warned that "crucial business processes, goods, and knowledge" could be lost imminently if moved outside Europe, creating "a factually irreversible situation." He added, "A prompt action by the Ondernemingskamer can prevent this."

Concerns over the Chinese director led several Nexperia board members to petition the Ondernemingskamer on October 1, the day after Karremans’s decree. That same day, the government’s attorney sent the court a letter expressing the minister’s fear that his order would be ignored, noting it was “by no means certain” that the decree would be followed.

Karremans maintains the decree was necessary and separate from the court case. A spokesperson said, "This [legal process] only considers the interests of the company, while the decree concerns the broader public interest." Karremans said, "The minister did not need the Ondernemingskamer to intervene successfully with the decree."

Independent experts questioned the minister’s rapid doubts. "It is remarkable that the minister questioned the effectiveness of his measure so quickly," Harm-Jan de Kluiver, a corporate law professor at the University of Amsterdam, told NOS. "You know that such a measure will provoke a counterreaction." Former professor Steef Bartman said, "The letter shows the minister was deeply uncertain about the tool he was using. He wanted to act quickly and forcefully, and the lawsuit was also a way to achieve his goal."

The Ondernemingskamer suspended Nexperia’s Chinese director the same day. Despite this, Karremans did not immediately revoke his decree, which had caused tensions with China because most Nexperia chips are produced in Chinese plants blocked from export, affecting Dutch automakers.

Karremans finally lifted the intervention last Wednesday, saying the risk of moving production to China had passed. China’s Ministry of Commerce responded cautiously but said the Ondernemingskamer case still blocks a lasting solution.